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What's your stance on abortion?

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Oh gods this is comments section is going to turn into a war zone. Way to dangle such a contentious topic in front of a rabid crowd. But c'est la vie. Here's my two cents:

Pro choice. Why? I have four sound reasons:

1) A child is a lifelong commitment and some people just aren't financial, emotionally, mentally, physically etc. capable and/or ready to make such a commitment. It's not fair to parent or child.

2) If a pregnancy results rom rape, a person should absolutely have the choice available to them to terminate the pregnancy. It is not selfish to take care of your current and future mental and emotional health.

3) if a pregnancy endangers the mother, they should have all options available and accessible to them in order to make a decision they think is best

4) if the unborn fetus has been diagnosed with genetic disorders, complications etc., resulting in lifelong disabilities and poor quality of living should they be born, then again, the expectant parent(s) should have all the options available and accessible in front of them to make a decision that is best for both parent(s) and child. Bringing a child into this world when you know they're going to need round-the-clock care, will have severe disabilities that will hinder their quality of life for their entire lives etc. is not kind or fair. For the child or parent.

So yes, pro choice because if you want to boil it down to basics, it's your body; and the only person who has the autonomy and authority to tell you what to do when it comes to your body is you.

10 ( +14 / -4 )

I agree with the commenter above, this is going to be one hot mess. As someone who grew up in a conservative family, I'm naturally inclined to say pro-life and just not do the deed if you don't want the seed, but I cannot deny that abortion can save the life of the mother in some cases. I think purple_depressed_bacon sums it up for me quite well.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Yup to the above. Seriously glad you got in early @purple_depressed_bacon

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Most arguments completely depend on sidestepping the main moral and ethical issue, and as such they become invalid. If your argument only works if the life is human without proving it first then it can't be used, and if your argument lack importance against the rights recognized for every human life then it is also irrelevant in this case until you can first demonstrate the life is not to be considered human.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

I'm pro-choice for the sake of women's health. But I also know that in the United States there are various support programmes by pro-life groups to ensure necessary cares to "unwanted" babies such as foster family arrangements.

Though radical/fanatic pro-life campaigns are a big turn-off, I think I'd be able to listen to or exchange views with someone moderate.

Speaking of the situation in Japan, about 150,000 have been aborted annually (145,340 in 2020; 156,716 in 2019).

令和2年度の人工妊娠中絶数の状況について

https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_18838.html

Ironically, JT is now carrying the article about the shortfall of the kid population. Another, different issue, but I think it's very relevant to address this point here.

Japan's child population falls for 41st year to record low

https://japantoday.com/category/national/japan's-child-population-falls-for-41st-yr-record-low-amid-pandemic

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Uncompromisingly pro-choice. Women should have the right to decide what they do with their bodies. If you don't have rights over your own body, you have nothing..

8 ( +12 / -4 )

There are all kinds of birth defects for which abortion is a medically sound solution. But the worst defect by far is being conceived but unwanted. It's a stigma that can last a lifetime, and may very well be passed along to future generations.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Sometimes people make mistakes and are unwilling or not ready to be parents so abortion should also be allowed after birth up to about the age of two or three. I mean, its your kids, your choice.

-9 ( +3 / -12 )

My stance is mind your own business. What one woman does to her body 1000s of miles away doesn't concern me. Nobody is suggesting a woman should have an abortion when 9 months pregnant.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

I want to note that there is another problem specifically for women in Japan: despite wider promotions, abortion drugs have yet to be approved in Japan. That means, a pregnant woman should go through a surgery whose health risk is however much higher.

It's actually some doctors who are resisting the drug approval. A single abortion surgery is said to cost about 100,000 yen. Their profit would vanish if drug treatment is used alternatively. Some doctors even argue the even if approved, abortion drugs should be sold for 100,000 yen, an equal amount to a surgery. I think it's ridiculous or outrageous.

中絶費用、都内で5倍も差が…産婦人科医療が「ビジネス化」している日本

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/3fe7928280f54f14f109b92427a2042d803ca620

If you are serious pro-choice, please also show any viable solutions to this problem, to support women under heath threat and dilemma.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Ambitious topic, certainly.

Idealistic Answer:

Women should have the say on what happens to their bodies. End of story.

Practical Answer:

It is going to happen anyway, people have been conducting some form of abortion just about as long as they have gotten pregnant. Whether that is with special teas, medical procedures, or just in a back alley with some wire.

This doesn't even begin to get into the whole array of exceptions that any society banning abortion would have to make. Do you force a woman to birth a baby conceived out of sexual assault? What's the metric for determining that?

Giving people access to the safest and cleanest method of obtaining abortions just makes simple sense.

Either way, I support the right of women to have access to abortion. I am not a woman and it ultimately isn't up to me, of course, but I support their right to come to their own conclusions.

11 ( +12 / -1 )

That’s something that only the women and girls should discuss and have the right to decide individually, because it’s only about them and their bodies, their physical and psychological condition. Besides of that I have an opinion as a man too, of course, but that’s of no importance or influence, or at least shouldn’t have one regarding this women related topic. Societies and governments should guarantee full unrestricted information and clean safe places , consider cases of to expected severe health issues or crimes and set some basic time frames because also the unborn have some little rights after some weeks of development. But the final decision has to be done freely, without general restrictions, without any punishments when abiding to the basic time frame , and individually of course. Why is that even such a big question in all our developed and civilized societies with freedom in their jurisdiction and on their flags? And one final thought, instead of discussing that such intensively, everything should be done instead, so that abortions are not necessary at all or only a very seldom exception.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I am a woman and pro-choice. There are many reasons why women have abortions but it's their own personal decision. I have supported friends by accompanying them to an abortion clinic and driving them home afterwards. It's ironic that most of the pro-life comments I read are from men who cannot bear children and who come off as telling a woman what she can do with her body. So I say to you "Mind your own business. It's not your decision."

I grew up during the 60's and early 70's when abortions were illegal in most states in the U. S. I had a friend in high school who resorted to a back alley abortion out of desperation and nearly died. Women will continue to have abortions even when there are laws banning them. Women with financial means can easily travel to places where abortions are legal whereas those without will seek out unsafe abortion practices. So don't think making abortions illegal will stop women from having them. Having a safe abortion is far more preferable than having an unsafe one.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

I don't like this kind of questioning, because most people are not 100% for or against abortion, most people believe that abortion should be legal until some point.

People who are on either extreme are just that, extremists, and most of the normal conversations are on the nuance about until what point should abortion be legal.

But the media almost always try to bring the most extreme positions and try to put them one against other, and then try to make you "choose" "which one do you support?".

0 ( +2 / -2 )

If you are anti-abortion don’t have one. The decision should lie solely with pregnant women. No on else gets a say about another persons body autonomy.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I am not a woman, so it is not for me to decide. I do however support the right for a woman to control what happens to her own body, it is a private matter not to be dictated by any other person.

I also agree that just because you make it illegal you do not prevent it happening, you just drive it underground and incidentally disadvantage the least well off either in forcing them to the back street abortionists or burdening them with a child they can not afford to support, ensuring it will be brought up in poverty and deprivation.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Simple: stop pushing your religious beliefs onto other people. This includes the religious belief that life begins at conception.

You don’t get to tell anyone else what you think they ought to do with their body.

Medical decisions are personal, private, and no one else’s business.

Your opinion on abortion is immaterial when it comes to other peoples’ lives because the US is not a theocracy and religious beliefs should not be mandated by law.

Mind your own damn business. Keep your god to yourself. Get out of the mindset that just because you believe in something that you have some kind of inalienable right to force those beliefs onto others.

How arrogant are you that you think you can dictate your religion to everyone?

Simple. Just don’t.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

How about pro-lifers focusing their energies on eradicating child poverty worldwide first.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

The socialists here are all for pro-choice, until it comes to the choice of disagreeing with them.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Legal - safe - rare. This always seemed the best way to me. If both sides would put their energy into reducing unwanted pregnancies and increasing support instead of attacking each other, then I think things would be better for everyone. I can't agree with some of the right's contentions such as it should be completely illegal and those who do it should be punished. I also can't agree with some of the left's contentions such as taking minors across state lines for abortions without parental consent and making the day after pill over the counter.

I also can't agree with the what has been published of the ruling so far. The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure of property and person. Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term and deliver the baby, making it illegal not to do so, seems, to me, to be an unreasonable seizure of her person by the government.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

It should be forced upon those who don't have the financial means to properly care for the kids, lack a sound mental health, when there's danger to mother's health or when severe disabilities are detected.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Generally, the group that uses the most euphemisms is the one with something to hide. That seems to be the poorly named 'pro-choice' crowd.

As for abortion, I would prefer that it never happen. Women (sorry, 'birthing people') already have 4 choices- abstinence, contraception, adoption, and motherhood. No need to add abortion.

But I am also a realist. So my compromise would be:

a/ First trimester abortions are legal, especially with the advent of medicine to induce abortion.

b/ After that, only for rape/crime/potential fatal medical condition of the mother. Abortions at this point become medical procedures and necessitate some gruesome procedures that would make any sane person violently ill and severely upset.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; Jeremiah 1:5

Probably best to keep religion out of this. If God really forms us in the womb, then considering 10-20% of pregnancies end with spontaneous abortions, he seems to practice it a lot.

My own view, like many others, is that until a foetus can survive alone, it's part of the mother's body and her choice. The rest of us should shut up.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

@Comanche_In_Tokyo,

Fetal viability is generally set at 24 weeks, which is why this is a common limit for abortion in many countries. (Where I live, about 80% of abortions are performed within 9 weeks from conception.)

I don't think it's my place to comment on the rights and wrongs of abortion. There are so many situations. Rape, incest, threat to the mother's health, the foetus with a condition that is likely to lead to suffering, or simply the mother not wanting a child.

Properly conducted abortion doesn't involve tearing a baby apart. For abortions before 12 weeks, "medical abortions" are general conducted. This involves taking medicines that will cause the woman to "pass the pregnancy". However, if made illegal, we are likely to see a revival in backstreet abortions which could be quite ugly.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The women should have the choice as to whether or not engage in behavior that can lead to pregnancy. Then, it is her responsibility.

Rape, incest, risk to mother's life--abortion acceptable.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

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